Why sober homes are becoming so popular as the economy worsens

Group homes for recovering alcoholics or sober homes as they are also known have become increasingly popular these days due to the huge demand from recovering substance abusers and the large profit potential for aspiring business owners that are looking to help others and help the community while simultaneously being well remunerated.

In today’s economy and most cities throughout the United States, there is still a large glut of housing inventory. In booming cities like Houston and Dallas and even in cities where the economy is not nearly as good – say, for example, Cleveland Ohio, there are thousands of homeowners looking to sell or rent their houses out at any given point in time. And as a result, some new entrepreneurs are putting these homes to good use by running them as recovery homes or group homes for ex-substance abusers and recovering alcoholics.

Not only are these group home owners helping others, but many are also making a fortune….up to $10,000 and many times much more per month, and per property as Brian Wall, a real estate specialist in this niche recently told Marketplace.

The Reality of Sober Homes

“If I’m not doing it to make money, then why am I doing it?” Wall says. “If I’m doing it for passion, that’s great, but that doesn’t help me open up ten houses.”

As Sarah Gross, the Emmy Award-nominated journalist for Marketplace noted in her article on sober homes, many of these new owner operators of recovery homes, group homes, and sober houses are simply having a difficult time renting or selling their homes the traditional way and have turned to this new market niche…. As quoted from Marketplace:

“Here is a new twist on the American housing market, a growing number of homeowners are turning their properties into something called sober homes. Sober homes are something where recovering addicts can go to when they first come out of rehab….and today’s strapped homeowners are tapping into this new market that homeowners can turn to to make their mortgage payments and turn a profit.”

As one gentleman in San Diego who owns and manages six sober homes mentioned to Marketplace,

“There is such a demand and such a need. It is an excellent opportunity to be of service.” The owner also offers drug testing and counseling services for his clients. Although not mentioned in the report on sober homes, this is also an additional avenue for making money from these sober homes. How is this done? Well, because drug use and alcohol problems are public health concerns, the United States allows agencies to reimburse for alcohol and drug screening and brief intervention.

“The impetus behind the Medicaid decision to reimburse for alcohol and drug screening services was the recognition of the number of people who go unidentified who are in need of an intervention or treatment,” Bertha Madras, deputy director of Demand Reduction from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, told Medscape.”

About 22 million Americans have abuse and addiction problems; of these, about 10% are in treatment, and the vast majority of the rest are not in treatment, not because there is a problem with the system, but because they don’t recognize the fact that they have a problem. Most do not seek help and remain unidentified.”

As you can see from the above articles and quotes, the opportunity to not only help out people in need but also help out the community and help yourself financially is enormous. But how exactly do you open a sober home you may be asking? Just think about the four easy steps:

Step one, rent a house

Step two, obtain a few pieces of furniture, a television and some beds for each room

Step three – advertise the same way the best sober home and group home operators promote – through word of mouth! Churches, social workers, nurses, churches, probation and parole offices and even the internet at places like Craigslist!

Collect the rent and deposit it into your account

You have the opportunity to charges as little as $150 per week to as much as $15,000 per client per month! The opportunities are limitless. Do some research, figure out what others are doing and begin helping yourself and others by starting up a sober home or group home for people in need of recovery

If you are looking for additional information on how to start a group home, halfway home, transitional living home, sober home, foster home, ICF/MR home, DADS Home or other type of care home for people with disabilities; check out our free course on starting your very own income-generating group home by entering your email below.